THE TORNADO IN INDIANA
THE BRUNT OF THE STORM--MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE--SLEEPERS HURLED
FROM BEDS--FREAKS OF THE STORM--INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS--ACUTE
SUFFERING--RESCUE WORK--NATIONAL GUARD ON DUTY--TOWN OF PERTH LAID
WASTE.
The record of disaster by tornado was greater in Terre Haute than in any
other place except Omaha. For two weeks before Easter a dense atmosphere
hung over the city, which occasional heavy rainfalls did not clear. Then
suddenly on Sunday night, about ten o'clock, the lightning flashed and
loud peals of thunder followed.
The tornado seemed to spring out of the southwestern part of the city as
if it came from the swollen waters of the Wabash River. It first smashed
into Gardentown, a suburb of the city, where a great many working people
live, and every building in its path crumpled down before it. The
lightning sped over building after building, setting many of them on
fire. Parts of the Root Glass Company's plant were flattened. The end of
the foundry room of the Gartland Factory, a solid brick wall eight
inches thick, was caved in. Brick and stone structures suffered alike.
MANY BURIED UNDER WRECKAGE
In the streets were tangled masses of twisted electric wires spluttering
out warnings of death for those who, careless of the first alarm, had
rushed in to rescue those who had been buried under roofs and walls.
Policemen, firemen and a host of volunteers struggled through the
debris, sidestepping the live wires that had been torn from their
fastenings.
The heavy downpour of rain extinguished many fires, and the city of
Terre Haute was thereby saved from destruction by fire. The large
Greenwood public school was shattered and torn. The tornado, like a huge
auger, bored into the roof and tore the shingles and rafters away and
every window was hurled from its casing. This building was later
converted into a hospital and morgue.
SLEEPERS HURLED FROM BEDS
In many instances death came to those who were asleep in their beds when
their homes collapsed about them. In other cases the bodies were picked
up as if by giant hands and hurled either to death or to terrible
injury. Some were thrown more than a hundred feet.
Above the roar of the wind and the rattle of the rain could be heard the
screams of frantic women and children. The scenes were pitiful. Men and
women were looking for loved ones, and when a torn and mangled form was
taken from the debris, a woman's shriek would tell the story of a lost
one found.
[Illustration: Copyright by George Grantham Bain.
Hundreds of buildings were demolished by the tornado at Terre Haute,
Indiana, and many lives were lost]
[Illustration: Photograph by Brown Bros.
Scenes such as this could be duplicated hundreds of times to illustrate
the demoniacal power of the tornado that laid waste the cities and towns
through which it passed]
[Illustration: THE REAPER]
Charles Chadwick, a six-year-old boy, owed his escape to the fact that
he left home, in the absence of his parents, to go to a moving-picture
show. He was found walking along South Fifth Street after the storm, but
his home could not be found as it had been blown away.
Seven houses owned by Fred Housman, including the one he lived in, on
the Lockport road, were swept away completely. Five wrecked autos were
found on that road.
Between Hulman and Voorhees Streets, in South Eighth, there was complete
devastation. Twenty-five houses were leveled to the ground in this
stretch.
On the Lockport road, south of Idaho, at least sixteen houses were
destroyed, but there were no fatalities and few were injured in this
immediate neighborhood.
MOTHER AND CHILD SWEPT AWAY
Mrs. Flora Wood was hurled seven feet from her home, her small baby
clasped in her arms. They were cared for at the Third United Brethren
Church.
The day-old baby of Mrs. Leonard Sloan was found in one corner of the
bedroom of their home, while the mother lay in another corner. The
entire top of the house had been blown away.
William Rogers, Superintendent of the United Brethren Sunday-school, was
buried beneath the walls of his home. He died while being carried to the
school house.
A large stone boarding house conducted by Mrs. Catherine Louden was
wrecked and the aged woman and her son, Ralph Louden, were badly
injured.
Many houses were wrecked between Third and Fifth Streets in Voorhees
Street.
FREIGHT CAR USED AS HOSPITAL
A freight car was pressed into service as a temporary medical quarter,
when the fire wagons with the police and fire departments arrived on
the scene. The live wires and burning debris made it impossible for the
ambulances to get within two blocks of the scene, and the bodies had to
be carried to safety by the rescuers.
Six fires broke out in different parts of the devastated district, while
the rescue work was being carried on. The strong winds still blowing
fanned the flames and drove the rescuers from their work.
FAMILY BURIED UNDER HOUSE
Fred King, a glass blower at 2146 Dilman Street, was found with his wife
and baby covered by the heavy timbers of their home that had collapsed
when the storm struck it. King had been hurled from his bed a distance
of ten feet. Two heavy timbers had almost crushed the life out of him.
His wife was terribly injured. A few feet away the baby was picked up
dead. The mother in her death struggles probably tried to save the baby
by throwing it away from her.
Near the Greenwood school several more were killed and many were
injured. Mrs. E. J. Edwards, wife of a druggist, was knocked down by a
heavy timber that broke her leg and pinned her to the ground. When she
was found the woman was screaming for her child, and later the little
fellow, eight years old, was picked up dead and carried to the Greenwood
school building.
Remarkable escapes were made in the twenty-four hundred block on South
Third Street, some of the residents of the square being seriously
injured. Mr. and Mrs. George Carmichael escaped from their home as it
was blown away by the wind.
Many families were separated in the excitement and for two hours after
the storm had passed anxious husbands, mothers and children were
searching the debris for absent members of their families. Many could
not find the wrecked remains of their homes, so hopelessly tangled was
the wreckage in the streets and on the sidewalks, and in several cases
it was difficult even to find the place where the home had stood.
INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS
Ambulances and moving vans were used to carry the injured to hospitals
and as these were soon filled stables and homes were converted into
temporary hospitals. More than two hundred persons were placed under the
care of doctors, but many were only slightly hurt and in some cases
women were found to be suffering merely from fright. These were soon
dismissed to make room for those actually suffering.
The scenes at the hospitals were pitiful. The agony of the sufferers was
increased by the uncertainty as to the fate and condition of their
families and friends.
Little children, lying in bandages about the hospital, cried out in pain
and fright. One little fellow with a big gash over his eye cried out for
his mother as he was being taken to the operating room. His father sat
near him and tried to lend what comfort was possible. A little girl in
one of the large rooms of the hospital played and laughed on her bed
while three anxious physicians worked with her sister, who had sustained
a compound fracture of the leg and a dislocated shoulder.
VICTIMS' FRIENDS CROWD TO FIND THEM
Friends and relatives of people living in the storm devastated region
soon crowded the halls of the hospitals, anxiously inquiring if those
dear to them were among the victims. Many learned of the whereabouts of
relatives or friends in the rooms of the hospital and crowded in to see
them when this was possible, expressing joy that they had escaped from
death beneath the falling walls and timbers of their homes. One man,
when lifted on the operating table, was found to be dead.
RESCUE WORK
The rescue work was carried on rapidly, and Monday night all the
homeless were cared for by charitable institutions and citizens, while
the more seriously injured were carried to places where they could
receive medical attention. In many cases private homes were turned into
temporary hospitals.
The scenes in the wrecked sections in Terre Haute brought tears to the
eyes of the rescuers, whose attention often was called to the dying,
trapped in the debris of their homes, by agonizing screams for aid. Some
died before they could be freed from wreckage and others who were
removed died afterward.
NATIONAL GUARD ON DUTY
A company of the Indiana National Guard was placed on duty in the
devastated district early Monday morning while the work of searching the
ruins for dead was still in progress. Over the entire area were
scattered all kinds of household furniture, wearing apparel, beds and
bedding.
Looting began within a few moments and the police were at first too busy
caring for the injured and removing the dead from the debris to protect
property, but the members of the National Guard soon established an
efficient patrol and the looters were not in evidence afterward.
TOWN OF PERTH LAID WASTE
The tornado which visited Terre Haute also struck Perth, in the northern
part of Clay County, about ten o'clock and then vanished in the air. No
lives were lost there and only one person was injured.
Nearly every building in the little town of 400 population was wrecked
or damaged. A brick store building, five two-story houses and seven
cottages, the Congregational church, a school house, a three-story
structure, barns and outhouses were completely demolished.